Many telecommunications networks provide services on a subscription basis. A subscriber to a subscription service has an account with the telecommunications service provider that provides the service. The account provides access to service-specific data, customer authorization and billing information, and other information. A subscriber's account is automatically accessed by the service provider's telecommunications network when the subscriber indicates a desire to use the service.
For example, MCI, a large telecommunications carrier, offers a subscription-based speed dialing service. In response to entry of a shortcut code, the speed dialing service automatically dials an associated telephone number, which is retrieved from the subscriber's account. Before using the speed dialing service, the subscriber specifies pairs of a shortcut code and a corresponding destination telephone number, which are stored by the service in the subscriber's account. A shortcut code is typically a single- or double-digit Dual Tone Multiple Frequency ("DTMF") signal, typically sent by pressing buttons on a touch-tone telephone. Once the speed dialing information is specified, the speed dialing subscriber service provides a sort of "memory" for dialing phone numbers frequently called, which operates independent of the physical device used to dial the destination number. Speed dialing is particularly useful, for example, for dialing long numbers greater than ten-digit telephone numbers, such as international telephone numbers, which cannot be stored in the local memory of many telephony devices.
In a typical implementation of a subscription service, the account information, such as the speed dial destination numbers, are stored in a subscriber account that is specific to each subscriber. It is possible for multiple subscription service s to be provided for a single account. Commonly, access to the account is achieved using the subscriber's ANI. An "ANI" is an automatic number identifier, which identifies the telephone number that is assigned to the calling station that originated the telephone call. An ANI is sent with every telephone call made from a calling station, and thus identifies the "caller" of a telephone call.
During typical operation, a subscriber dials into the subscription service account using a specially designated telephone number, such as a toll-free 800/888 telephone number. The subscriber then provides a personal identification number ("PIN") to authorize access to the subscriber's account. The telecommunications network that provides the service accesses the subscriber's account information using the subscriber's ANI, which is passed with the telephone call information.
FIG. 1 is an overview block diagram of the architecture of an example telecommunications network used to provide a subscription-based service such as speed dialing. An intelligent services network ("ISN") 103, commonly known as a call center, provides operator services and other enhanced services, such as subscription-based services, through various electronic devices and computer systems. The ISN 103 is connected to a customer's telephony device 101 through a switching network, such as an external public switched telephone network ("PSTN") 102. The PSTN 102 is connected to the originating telephony device 101 typically by a local exchange carrier ("LEC"), which is not shown.
The ISN 103 includes a number of different client devices, such as one or more audio response units (ARUs) 105, one or more application processors (APs) 108, and various operator consoles 109, which are connected through an Automated Call Distributor (ACD) 104 to the PSTN 102. The components of the ISN 103 are typically interconnected through a local area network ("LAN"), such as an Ethernet LAN 113. The various components of the ISN 103 are used to provide high-level services to telephone customers that access the ISN 103 via the PSTN 102. For example, the operator consoles 109 are used to respond to requests for operator-assisted calls. Similarly, an ARU 105 is used to provide an automated service such as a scripted menu-driven service that is controlled by a customer using a touch-tone telephone. The ISN 103 client devices utilize one or more Network Information Distribution System ("NIDS") servers 110 to store database information, such as the subscription-based service accounts. Typically, the subscription service accounts are created, stored, and managed on a computer system (such as mainframe 111) which uses a data replication and distribution system to distribute, via a token ring wide area network ("WAN") 112, account data to the various NIDS servers 110, which are geographically spread throughout the ISN.
To use the speed dialing service provided by ISN 103, a telephone call (a call) originates from the calling station 101 by dialing the specially designated telephone number. The call is routed by the switching network through the PSTN 102 to the ISN 103 to process the call. The call is received by the Automated Call Distributor (ACD) 104, which routes the call based on the specially designated telephone number to the ARU 105. The ARU 105 processes the subscriber's request and, in doing so, retrieves the subscriber's service account record(s) from one of the NIDS servers 110. The ARU 105 then provides the requested service to the subscriber.
More specifically, the ARU 105 includes a Network Audio Server ("NAS") 106 and an automated call processor ("ACP") 107. The ACP 107 performs application processing and provides instructions to the NAS 106. The NAS 106 is equipped with telephony ports and can receive telephone calls, such as those sent from the ACD 104. The NAS provides a scripted menu (for example, "Press 1 to access your speed dial account; press 2 to change account information . . . "). The NAS 106 accepts caller input via DTMF signals. Once the ARU 105 receives the call that is requesting speed dialing, the subscriber enters a PIN to authorize access to the subscriber's account. The ARU 105 uses the subscriber's ANI, which was passed by the PSTN 102 through the ACD 104 to the ARU 105, to retrieve the subscriber's account records from one of the NIDS servers 110. The ARU 105 through the NAS 106 obtains the subscriber's shortkey selection and then retrieves the corresponding destination telephone number from the speed dialing information stored in the retrieved account records. The ARU 105 then initiates a telephone call request to the retrieved destination telephone number on behalf of the subscriber.
Thus, in typical operation, a subscriber's service account is directly tied to the subscriber's ANI. As a result, when the subscriber's ANI is changed, the subscriber service account that corresponds to the affected ANI must be updated to reflect the new ANI. Different phenomena in a telecommunications system may cause an ANI to change. For example, changes to a numbering plan may affect the distribution of ANIs in a geographic area. In North America, a local exchange carrier ("LEC") is responsible for assigning ten-digit telephone numbers within certain numbering plan areas ("NPAs"). An NPA is commonly known as the "area code," which is the first three digits of a terminating ten-digit telephone number according to the North America Numbering Plan. When the LEC runs out of ten-digit telephone numbers within a particular NPA, the LEC must create a new NPA and reassign some of the existing telephone numbers to the new NPA. As a result, many subscribers' ANIs (their telephone numbers) change. The creation of a new NPA and reassignment of telephone numbers is referred to as an NPA split. An NPA split results in interruptions to account-based subscriber services unless the accounts are updated to reflect the ANI changes. Typically, the subscriber service accounts are updated in a manual process, which relies on an order entry system residing on the mainframe 111 to update each record for each subscriber ANI.
The update problem is further complicated when caused by an NPA split because the ANIs serviced by the LEC are not changed immediately at a specified (or known) time. Rather, the LEC changes the various ANIs in the affected NPA region over the course of several weeks or several months. During this period, known as a permissive dialing period, the LEC can originate telephone calls using either the old ANIs or the new ANIs. When the permissive dialing period ends, the mandatory dialing period begins, and the switch is required to originate telephone calls using new ANIs. Because it is impossible for the service provider to know for a particular ANI the exact moment of the ANI cutover from the old ANI to the new ANI, current systems manually change each subscriber's ANI-based accounts using the order entry system when the mandatory dialing period begins. This may result in interruption to the subscriber's service if the subscriber's particular ANI is cutover sometime during the permissive dialing period (before mandatory dialing begins) and the subscriber's account is not updated until the mandatory period begins.